


The Machine

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Read My Lips [27]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-28 00:27:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6306532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: Stargate: Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, "Fine, you name it!"</p><p>Tag to The Tao of Rodney. What to name the ascension device?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Machine

"What was that?" Rodney asked.  
  
Lorne looked at John, who repeated the sign.  
  
"It's...it's basically Ascend-o-matic," Lorne said.  
  
Rodney huffed. "That's a stupid name."  
  
"Ascension-in-a-box was pretty good," John protested. With all the new names he was throwing out, Lorne had to translate more than usual.  
  
"No it wasn't," Rodney said, signing _no_ for emphasis.  
  
John threw up his hands. "Fine. _You_ name it."  
  
"Obviously it's an Ascender," Rodney said, finger-spelling it.  
  
John rolled his eyes. "That's an equally stupid name as the ones I suggested."  
  
"So you admit the names you suggested were stupid?" Rodney smirked.  
  
Lorne looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there. Zelenka, crouched behind the machine, looked like he was trying not to laugh.  
  
"In the pattern of other things you've named, like Puddle Jumpers instead of Gate Ships," Rodney said, "the names you've chosen lack a certain...poetic flair. Ascender has more poetry. Ascension-in-a-box is too much like Gate Ship."  
  
It was John's turn to smirk. "So you admit Puddle Jumper is a better name than Gate Ship?"  
  
Rodney had walked right into that one. "Look, it doesn't matter what it's called. We just know it works." He stretched out one hand, and his mug of coffee flew into his grasp. He smirked at John and sipped it.  
  
John sighed, kissed him on the cheek, and said, "I'd better get back to that cypher Kusunagi dug up. See you later, demi-god."  
  
Demi-god. Rodney kind of liked that. "If I'm a demi-god, then this device is The Ascender," he called after John, forcing Lorne to pause and interpret.  
  
John's response was a hand gesture that required no interpretation. Carter smothered a laugh, then went to speak to Zelenka.  
  
They found out that the Ascender was broken, and Rodney had to ascend or die, and panic ensued.  
  
Forever after that, John referred to it simply as _The Machine_. He always looked like he was stabbing something when he signed it.


End file.
